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When does Skepticism become Conspiracy
Here's a favorite talking point: conspiracy nuts. You've heard them saying that literally everything about everything you've been told is a lie. From the moon landing to 9/11 to everything after and before being a plot by lizard aliens to take us over. Unlike most of the crazy people in the world, these guys are pretty funny because they don't do much damage... except in one domain: demonization of skepticism. Now conspiracy nuts are the exact opposite of skeptical, but whenever someone thinks that the government might be lying to us about something (nukes in Whatever Country), or we've been mislead with facts about something (like water fluoridation), your average internet user will ride them off as a conspiracy nut. So... when does skepticism become conspiracy? I mean, you're deluding yourself if you think that any government has never had any cover-up ever. But the people who tend to try to "ask questions" seem... a little bit off. They may not have paranoid personality disorder (although many do), but there's definitely some detachment from reality. Then again, some facts are stranger than fiction. Breakfast cereal was made to make people stop masturbating. And I'd cite my source, but the "skeptics" won't believe it becomes it comes from an internet source... or a book that's obviously written by conspiracy nuts. You may have notice that I've been using quotation marks a lot here. That's because the people who try to debunk even outlandish claims are sometimes anti-skeptics. Their version of reality is the only version of reality, period, and they know all of the facts with one-hundred percent rational truth. This is why rationalwiki is a terrible source by the way. They have this mindset about everything and come across as anti-skeptical, which is the WORST thing a "rational" person can be. Now real conspiracy nuts. They don't pose questions. They give answers. Here's where things get confusing because not all people giving you answers that seem outlandish are conspiracy nuts, but pretty much all conspiracy nuts will give you all of the answers. There are no questions. It might have to get to Beautiful Mind ''territory, but they've been able to explain just about everything. They have to--they think if there's any questions, then their entire theory falls apart. Except, when everything is completely explained... when things are being hidden from the public... then it's stranger that you actually DO know all of the answers. Conspiracy nuts seem to have one large fallacy, almost across the board: '''Just because someone benefits, doesn't mean someone was planning to' You get this a lot with the 9/11 conspiracy guys. Yes, the event most likely lead to things like the Patriot Act and the War on Terror and the TSA. That doesn't mean that people planned to make it happen. You see, some people (especially politicians) are opportunists. You don't have to load the gun yourself to fire it. With the moon landing, sure... the United States benefited a lot from that one. First of all, I think if it was fake, the Russians would have figured it out by now and told the world (and every other lapse in logic with that one). Second of all, we've gotten more benefits than we planned from going to the moon. And besides, the really good borderline conspiracy stuff was made to prevent screw-ups from becoming known, not to create a cause. Do you really think that those Corn Syrup is healthy commercials would have been made if the industry wasn't suffering from a negative reputation: (I found it by the way. These guys are awful. Not the actors. The Corn Refiners Association. I'll put them up there with Viacom, EA, and Comcast.) I think there be a conspiracy here... Never Attribute Idiocy to Malice It's much more likely that even the all-powerful government screwed up than actively wants to screw you. Let's talk about water fluoridation for a minute. I'm against water fluoridation on an ethical principal. I think it's wrong to medicate people against their will, and it sets a precedent. If we could put sodium fluoride in the water... what couldn't we put in? That isn't a fallacy. I legit want to know the answer. Only about eight countries in the world fluoridate their water, and several others have banned its practice. The countries that have banned it have also experienced lower rates of tooth decay. Fluoride has no use past the teeth, which is why you're not supposed to swallow tooth paste. Putting anything into water can create an environmental hazard. Now a conspiracy nut will say that this was used by the nazis to make people stupid. Regardless of whether or not water fluoride lowers IQ (it might), it most likely wasn't a plan by our government or any government to make people stupid. People across the board used to think fluoride was good and healthy (or a communist plot). People in Rome used lead as an artificial sweetener. It wasn't the Roman government's intention to make people die of lead poisoning. Let me be clear here: This does not prove guilt OR innocence. Governments of all kinds have done horrible things to its people. Off of the top of my head, the Tuskegee Syphilis Experiment or the Agent Orange experiment. There's also the 1971 Irradiation Experiment. This is why it is imperative to know the difference between crazy conspiracy and genuine political concern. With things like Edward Snowden and Wikileaks there' no denying that the government is lying to you in some areas; big business is lying to you in some areas; and they've got a vested interested in keeping you from knowing. Does this mean that we should just be paranoid? No. For example, I'm not particularly worried about the NSA because I'm one specific person. (I'm also highly visible, so the likelihood of me just being captured for spouting my opinions is low). Real conspiracies and lies tend to affect larger groups of people. I mean, it's definitely possible for the government to read whatever you're googling. All they need is a subpoena. Do you really think they care about your embarrassing fetish, or how often you look at your ex's facebook? No, I wouldn't worry about the government. I'd worry more about companies selling your information to each other to bombard you with advertisements. Also, the most frightening things you should ask questions about aren't what happens directly after any given event, but what's been there all along. Skepticism is important to any populace that doesn't want to find itself subject to tyranny. I'm not saying the government is making these conspiracy theories popular to demonize skeptical thought about its program, but... intention or not, that does seem to be what happens in a lot of the cases. Why do people come up with conspiracy theories? Well, it depends a lot on what the conspiracy is and who the person is. Some of them legitimately suffer from paranoid personality disorder, or may have suffered from a trauma of some kind. Another popular reason: Self-esteem and self-confidence. Remember, if everyone's out to get you, this means you're someone important. If you can outsmart a government that's hiding all of the answers, then you must be a rather smart individual. And yeah, sadly, it can get to the point of deluding themselves. When the conspiracy becomes a self-defense mechanism, an attack on it may as well be an attack on the person themselves if you try to do it. Now... how to get people to believe your stranger than fiction truths? Good sources will persuade the common chap, but then there are those other people who are just like the conspiracy theorists. The only difference is that their conspiracy is a little bit closer to the claimed reality. I would say to just leave them alone, but they tend to be a lot more arrogant than your average conspiracy nut. Both open-mindedness and skepticism are very important traits to have, and if you lack either you may find yourself living a lie. Then again, when all the truth does is make your heart ache, sometimes a lie is easier to take. The objective truth can be an ugly thing, to even those who seek it the most. And don't even get me started on the agenda pushers. You know the type. Those people with specific prejudices saying that x'' historical event was a lie. Look, we live in a globalized world now. No one group of people could lie about something that affects the entire world unless they were completely isolationist like North Korea. History used to be written by the winners, but now if you're interested, you can get the story of every country involved, in say... something like World War II. '''In conclusion' Am I saying you shouldn't listen to the government? That's... probably a wrong way to phrase that.. Here's how politics works: Tell the people want they want, so I can get what I want. Sometimes all they want is election, and sometimes they want to enact harsh laws/programs/whatever. However, you--the common citizen--needs to see the long-term effects of these things, because in my experience, a government will never act on the long-term. With such short election cycles, they really can't afford to. For example, War on Drugs. Immediate effect: people like you, drug usage goes down. Later effect: highest prison population in the world, and many, many other effects that I don't have time to go into here. Were the latter effects intended? No, of course not. Politicians aren't smart enough to plan something like that out. (Like, I'm almost sure that politicians have an IQ maximum). In fact, a lot of things they do is... the opposite of a plan. "I'm gonna do this thing and fuck the consequences of it later." However, their plans usually involve covering their tracks. Not covering their tracks ahead of time. You can get around this simply by getting worldwide sources. Be careful though, because media like news channels have the same formula "tell the people want they want, so I can get what I want." Corporations kind of act like that. "As long as people are buying, I can do whatever I want" If an issue comes up, it's a good idea to be well-informed on your own. You shouldn't let your news anchor or your politician do it for you. There's plenty of chances you'll run into a conspiracy nut forum, but if you're smart, you can usually figure out what's true and what's not. Remember, people need both skepticism and open-mindedness Like EA says "Challenge Everything. Except Origin. It's totally not spyware" Category:Miscellaneous